Business groups push Trump to protect Paris climate pact

A group of 600 businesses, including some of the country’s leading technology companies, is calling on President-elect Donald Trump to adhere to the Paris Climate Agreement and pursue policies to mitigate the risks of climate change.

“We want the US economy to be energy efficient and powered by low-carbon energy,” the group wrote in its letter, which was addressed to Trump, President Barack Obama, Congress and global leaders. “Cost-effective and innovative solutions can help us achieve these objectives. Failure to build a low-carbon economy puts American prosperity at risk. But the right action now will create jobs and boost US competitiveness. We pledge to do our part, in our own operations and beyond, to realize the Paris Agreement’s commitment of a global economy that limits global temperature rise to well below 2 degrees Celsius.

“Implementing the Paris Agreement will enable and encourage businesses and investors to turn the billions of dollars in existing low-carbon investments into the trillions of dollars the world needs to bring clean energy and prosperity to all,” the group wrote. “We support leaders around the world as they seek to implement the Paris Agreement and leverage this historic opportunity to tackle climate change.”

Trump has said he will keep “an open mind” on climate issues, though the GOP remains resistant to any significant action to confront climate change, or even to acknowledging a human role in the planet’s warming. Trump’s pick to lead the Environmental Protection Agency, Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt, wrote recently that “Scientists continue to disagree about the degree and extent of global warming and its connection to the actions of mankind.”

There is overwhelming consensus in the scientific community that climate change is driven by human activity.